Thanks for your input, I'm using an older version of MoI and .fbx is not availible in the export list.

I'm used to working with .obj since that's what I receive most of the time, so it was a natural choice to try, but then again I have seen a lot of problems with importing .obj so this makes sense.

Again, thanks for the input.

Hi project6, you can download the current v2 beta version from here:
http://moi3d.com/beta.htm

That will then get you a working version for now that has FBX export in it.

Otherwise without FBX it is hard to get the best results, but if you must use OBJ set it to Output: Quads & Triangles instead of Output: N-gons to avoid the worst problems with bad triangulations that was causing holes to get covered up.

Also one other tip if you have to use OBJ - try using the "Divide larger than" option to dice polygons up into smaller more evenly sized pieces, that can help to reduce shading artifacts that happen when the good vertex normals do not go through.

But FBX is much, much better going into Max.

- Michael

Hi,

Thanks for the link, I will try the 2.0 beta.

I guess this is a bit off-topic, but I contacted Autodesk about my problem and they do have a converter utility that takes an OBJ input and converts it to FBX. This may be helpful for other people here stuck with OBJ output so I'm posting the links here:

Windows: http://images.autodesk.com/adsk/files/fbx20102_converter_win.exe
Mac: http://images.autodesk.com/adsk/files/fbx20102_converter_mac_enu.pkg.tgz
Linux: http://images.autodesk.com/adsk/files/fbx20102_converter_linux_enu

The reason I'm lingering with OBJ instead of FBX is I have a number of applications in my pipeline that can only output OBJ, and also a lot of my clients use OBJ as it's some form of standard today.
Unfortunately, Autodesk's converter seems to strip Smoothing Groups, but at least it's something. I read that MAX 2010 has better OBJ import module, maybe it's time for an upgrade...

Anyway, back to topic, thanks for your response Michael, at least now my problems regarding MoI have been resolved. :)

I also found that the Autodesk fbx converter discarded the smoothing information. Very frustrating.

My testing of the Max 2010 trial indicated that it does a reasonable job with obj.

My eventual workaround has been to export obj from Moi (I needed styles exported as materials), import obj to Blender using an obsoleted Blender script which Michael kindly modified (necessary because the current Blender script discards the smoothing info!) and finally export to Max from Blender as fbx (Blender's fbx exporter is very good). Note that you shouldn't make any changes within Blender as it seems that doing so results in Blender re-calculating the vertex normals, ruining the smoothing.

Blender script is in this thread...
http://moi3d.com/forum/messages.php?webtag=MOI&msg=3164.1

Hi all

>>because the current Blender script discards the smoothing info!<<

Import .obj in Blender with Smooth Group option then Edit ( [F9] ) and
add EdgeSplit modifier to object and deselect the From Edge Angle button.